Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder
by allen.seizmik
Summary: Akasuna No Sasori leads a perfect life. He's got his dream job and a comfortable apartment. Deidara is fresh out of highschool and no job. What would be better than to work as an artist...for Sasori at Sugoi Inc.? Rated M
1. Sugoi Inc

As of right now, twenty-two-year-old Akasuna no Sasori was happy to report that everything in his life was perfect. He'd just moved out of his grandmother's house and found himself a great apartment where the rent was cheap enough for someone fresh out of college to pay. He had a great job as the manager of Sugoi Inc., his art studio. The idea behind it was that if rich people, or anyone, really, wanted something nice to hang on their walls or show off and had money to pay for it, they'd hire Sasori and his people to meet their needs. Business was going well and his bank account was growing like a sponge in water. The employees themselves had nothing to complain about- good pay and the job was actually fun.

It was Monday morning, 6:30 a.m. and Sasori was busy slipping into gray skinny jeans, his Escape The Fate shirt hung around his neck, waiting to be worn properly. This was just another great thing about the job: working in an art studio required no dress code whatsoever except for wearing an apron when working with messy materials. Not that anyone did, though. The only time he had to don formal clothing was when he would deliver finished pieces to people.

_Sweet._

He stood up, zipped up his pants, and finished putting on his shirt. He grabbed the semi-damp towel he had just removed from his head and continued to pat his hair dry while the straightener heated up.

* * *

"Morning," a soft voice greeted Sasori as he came in through the double doors of the studio.

A woman got up from the chair she had apparently been dozing on. She hastily combed through her sleek midnight blue hair with her fingers. Sasori made a noncommital grunt and put his things down on the table, the impact sending woodshavings from last night's work flying everywhere.

Ah well, let Kisame take care of it.

"Konan, anything new?" Sasori asked, scooping the woodshavings that remained on the table into his cupped hand.

He looked in through the open door of his office and at the phone. The message light was not blinking and so he knew her answer before she opened her mouth to speak.

"No," she responded once having finished fixing a newly completed paper rose into her half-ponytail, half-bun. She smoothed down the rest of her hair and yawned. "We haven't gotten any calls- _yet_."

"This gives us time to complete Miyauchi-san's-" Sasori began.

"About time..." Konan said, not looking at Sasori but rather at the double doors. It took Sasori a couple of seconds to realize what she was talking about but then he faced the double doors too and knew what she was talking about.

"_Aahh_."

The doors had opened to reveal a tall, thin someone with spiky, gravity-defying bright orange hair. Sasori sometimes thought this guy would set a world record for most piercings if he ever cared to call the people at Guiness World Records. He wore skintight black jeans that had been artistically ripped here and there and a purposely faded _As I Lay Dying _shirt.

"Oi," Pein muttered, rubbing his eyes and wearily making his way to his usual table.

Not even two seconds later, the doors opened again and three people came in.

The first was tall with neck-length white-blond hair that had been brushed back and held in place with just enough gel to make it shine. His piercing violet eyes searched the room as he made his way to the table Pein was at. He wore a black muscle shirt and black-and-white Tripp shorts. The necklace nobody dared to talk about bounced up and down on his chest as he walked. Ladies and gentlemen..._Hidan_.

Behind him was the before mentioned Hoshigaki Kisame. His blue hair had been, as usual, gelled into spikes, resembling his pointed teeth. His clothes were nothing to speak of (they never were): a regular brown T-shirt and plain blue jeans.

Last but not least was Zetsu who was, perhaps, the most questionable of them all. Maybe it was his spiky green hair or his unusually sharp and unnerving teeth that made people want to run in the opposite direction when he approached them or maybe it was his golden eyes that seemed to stare right through you. Whatever it was, though, it was something nobody would ever (try to) understand.

"Where's Uchiha and the money-whore?" he demanded. And so the dark side of Zetsu was dominant today.

Konan stiffled a laugh. "They'll get here..."

And she was right.

Always late for work or "fashionably late" as they called it (not that they fooled anyone) they arrived, as was usual for them, at 7:40 a.m.

Everyone was about done cleaning when the two showed up.

"Morning," Uchiha Itachi said quietly, peeling off his jacket and revealing the brand new _Avenged Sevenfold _shirt he wore along with his plain blue jeans which, too, looked new. This was one of the many things that intrigued everyone that knew Itachi- he came from a loaded family and yet he found the necessity to work when he didn't wear the same clothes twice. Ever.

Who knew what he did with the many shirts and jeans that had only been worn once. Nobody ever saw them again.

Kakuzu said nothing and put down his things. He zipped up the hoodie that he never seemed to part with, hitched up his black skinny jeans, and brushed his freshly straightened charcoal-black hair out of his emerald eyes and raised his eyebrows so that they disappeared into his hair as if asking why they had not begun working yet.

Nobody offered him an answer.

* * *

By 9:20 a.m. everyone was hard at work, even Kisame. Konan had removed her hoodie, revealing that she was only wearing a black spaghetti-strap shirt in addition to her black skinny jeans. After the removal of the jacket, most of the guys were having serious problems concentrating on their work and it was then that Sasori decided it was time for a break- he didn't want Kisame's drool all over his nice clean floor.

"Anyone else want a burger?" Pein called as he headed for the double doors.

Sasori raised his hand and Pein nodded, exiting the building. They could hear the door shut and then the sound of car wheels grinding on asphalt.

"You notice we never eat lunch at lunch time?" Konan said loudly from across the room where she was cleaning some brushes.

"We don't get here on time either," Sasori replied, looking in Itachi and Kakuzu's direction.

Kakuzu turned around. "I told you, buying an alarm clock requires money. I'm not going to waste my precious money on an alarm clock when I have my internal clock to tell me when to wake up."

"You might wanna check that 'internal clock', man. I think it's broken," Hidan said, sniggering and scraping paint off the stool he was sitting on.

Kakuzu grabbed Sasori's chisel and threw it at Hidan, who avoided it by jumping off his stool and falling with a thud onto the cold floor. He remained there for a few seconds, groaning, before picking himself up again.

"Don't do that," Sasori said, working hard to supress a smirk.

Kakuzu snorted and put his head down on the table, feigning sleep.

Yes, Sasori thought, everything in life was definitely awesome right now. This was just another day at the studio with the people he'd known since kindergarden working for him. He loved his job, he loved his life, and, right now, he would not change anything at all.

* * *

Life just about sucked right now for eighteen-year-old Deidara. Sure, he had graduated from high school with honors but now that he was not going to school he had no idea what he wanted to do with himself. He thought back to the Mondays when he had complained endlessly about having to wake up early to go to school but now he really wished he was there again. He wanted to have every day planned out for him, he didn't want to have to do things himself, he didn't want to not know what was coming.

He didn't want to be grown up. He was scared.

Oh, how _stupid_ that sounded! How childish, how...how....Deidara sighed. He felt stupid admitting that growing up was scary.

He'd just recently found an apartment, the rent wasn't that expensive. Still, he couldn't survive on his pitiful amount of so-called "life-savings" forever. He would have to find a job. And quick.

Deidara grabbed his keys and left his apartment, as always, forgetting to lock the door.

* * *

Deidara sat on an old bench at the park, looking over the available jobs on the newspaper he'd bought a few minutes before from the corner store.

Hmm.

Not much opportunities for someone fresh out of high school.

What a surprise.

Deidara continued to look over the ads, occasionally crossing one out, sometimes stopping at one and then frowning. Getting a job was turning out to be harder than he had thought.

Tutor?

No.

Full-time babysitter...

What the _fuck_? No.

Sugoi Inc.

Huh?

Deidara straightened out the paper, looking at the little add, very much interested in what it had to offer. The pay was pretty good and all they basically did was commissions. No college or any sort of experience (besides knowing how to draw or sculpt) needed. Hey! Deidara had never set foot in college and he could sculpt! Sounded good! A fun, well-paying job...

If Deidara wasn't so nervous about his first job, he'd say that now the only thing left to do was call.

But it wasn't.

* * *

It was 8:32 p.m. and Sasori was heading home, feeling very satisfied with himself. He'd be starting two new projects tomorrow and he'd finished all of the ones that were due today. Life was great. Everything was going smoothly and he didn't want anything to change.

Unfortunately for the redhead, there were going to be changes soon.

Big changes.

* * *

**UGH!! Something is totally wrong with this editor! D; It mixes up the whole "Hey guys, how's it going?" thing I usually do at the beginning of every chapter with the first paragraph :| So...I erased it until I can figure out how to solve the problem u.u Anyway, please R&R (: Thanks!**


	2. Princess Peach

**Hallo! This chapter was really fun to write for some reason :D It was written after a long, long day...I was tired and just wanted to like punch someone in the face, I was fed up with the day's events! So I started writing and totally cheered myself up XD Plus, finally getting to describe the studio was fun. Enjoy!**

* * *

Sasori walked in through the double doors of the studio early the next morning, sketchbook in hand, ready to work. Konan was inside Sasori's office, busywriting something. He sat down at a work table and opened up the sketchbook without another thought, extracted several pencils and a kneaded eraser from his pocket, and looked up just as Konan stepped out of his office.

"Oh, hey," She was holding a blue sticky note with something written on it in purple ink. "Zetsu called in sick...probably hung over or something and...uh...some kid called just now to ask about our ad in the paper."

"That's the second time this month Zetsu calls in sick..." Sasori said, returning to his drawing. "What's the kid's name?"

Konan took a second to study her sticky note. "Deidara. He's eighteen, just came out of high school."

Sasori shaped his eraser into a small cone and used the tip to erase the guidelines on his drawing. He worked for a few seconds and then, as if he suddenly remembered that he had been talking to Konan, looked up.

"What can he do?" Sasori asked, raising an eyebrow.

Again, Konan consulted with the sticky note. "He can sculpt...and he's coming in during lunch break."

Sasori raised an eyebrow again, chewing on the end of his pencil, his eyes tracing the lines on the paper before him and, for a fraction of a second, he wondered what this Deidara person might look like.

And then, Hidan walked in, bringing with him the smells of last night's party and cigarette smoke. Both, however, were no match for the ever-present stench of quick, unprotected morning sex with the random girl he had woken up next to today.

Ah, the usual morning routine.

Konan leaned back against the wall, her eyes followed Hidan to his seat, where he threw himself down and let out a loud burp that seemed to shake the walls.

Sasori snorted.

Konan wrinkled her nose. "Well, that wasn't fucking disgusting at all..."

Hidan smiled.

"You're stoned, aren't you?" Konan asked, her mouth formed into a small smile, her eyes watching the Jashinist.

He laughed. "No."

Sasori looked up, his pencil held a few inches off the paper. "Get your stoned ass to the back room and sleep it off, jackass."

It took Hidan a couple of seconds to realize that Sasori was talking to him and, when he finally realized it, he stood up slowly, a wide smile plastered on his face.

"Alright then..." he mumbled, disappearing into the back.

It was then that they finally noticed that Pein and Kisame had walked in. Kisame was wearing the usual thrift store shirt and jeans, Pein the usual ripped skinny jeans and band T-shirt.

"Princess Peach stoned again?" Kisame asked, taking a seat across from Sasori, who smirked.

Everyone's favorite nickname for Hidan was Princess Peach, though no one actually called him by it to his face. Unless he was restrained by chains. The reason for this nickname is a story for another day.

"Don't call him that," Konan said. "But yeah..."

"Freakin'-"

"Holy _shit_...I think I just died a little..." Sasori said softly, his eyes locked on the entrance.

Everyone turned, wonering what could have made Sasori show any sort of emotion in public. One by one, they felt a little part inside of them die and their eyes widened, each silently wondering if maybe the weird bartender with the glass eye had slipped something weird in their drinks the night before.

Itachi and Kakuzu were standing at the door.

It wasn't even 7:20 yet.

This was it. A sure sign that hell had frozen over.

It would probably snow around noon, despite the current temperature being seventy-five degrees.

"Did someone die?" Kakuzu asked, walking past everyone and taking a seat at the work table in the far corner. He swept his bangs out of his face, emerald eyes surveying the people before him, all with the same expression of shock stamped on their face.

"You're..._early_..." Pein said in disbelief as Itachi walked past him.

"Oh, really? Maybe you're just late," Itachi said quietly, taking a seat next to Hidan's empty chair. He lowered his smoked glasses and raised both eyebrows, letting them disappear into his hair without fear of them not coming back.

Everybody knew better than to question Itachi. Even Pein.

* * *

It was 12:21 p.m. when Deidara knocked on the entrance doors (they were locked) to Sugoi Inc. For a few seconds there was silence, and then he heard someone fidgeting with a lock. The door opened.

"You must be Deidara," said the person standing before him. He was in his early twenties, maybe even younger with bright red hair that had grown past his ears. He wore black skinny jeans and a gray jacket with the sleeves rolled up. Certainly this couldn't be the owner?

Deidara nodded and stayed silent.

"I'm Sasori, come in," the redhead said, walking inside and leaving the door open for Deidara. "Just follow me into my office."

The studio was huge with a concrete floor and with five massive, round work tables. The air smelled of damp clay and acrylic paint, like an art studio should. As he looked around, Deidara could see that all of the work tables were coated in what seemed to be the chalky residue of dried porcelain, occasionally accompanied by a drop or two of dried paint. A shelf at the far corner held big blocks of malleable clay that had been swaddled in plastic. Stacks of sketchbooks stood like skyscrapers atop one of the work tables, surrounded by jars of drawing pens and pencils, charcoals, and watercolor brushes.

For now it was empty because (Deidara assumed) everyone was out to lunch. He couldn't wait to see the place busy.

Deidara had to tear his eyes away from this beautiful sight in order to follow Sasori into the large office. Here, it was completely different from the studio. Totally, absolutely different.

The carpeting was white shag, a large desk stood facing a brand-new black couch. A laptop sat on the desk, closed. A pack of sticky notes lay next to a large yellow notepad, small, cramped writing running across its surface. Sasori sat in the large, swiveling chair behind the desk and tore off the written-on page from the notepad, exposing a new one. He opened a drawer and extracted a pen.

"You can sit on the couch," Sasori said and Deidara did. "Alright then, Deidara. You're eighteen, I believe?"

Deidara nodded. "Yes."

"Okay...and I hear you're a sculptor?"

At this, Deidara's face brightened. "A _great_ sculptor, hm."

Sasori leaned back in his chair. "Show me what you can do."

"But...I don't-"

"You can borrow some of our clay. Just go into the studio and do your stuff." Sasori said, standing up and walking out of the office. He took a seat at one of the work tables.

Deidara went to the shelf holding the clay and grabbed a block of clay about the size of his hand. He took it to the nearest work table and sat down. The blonde stared at the block for a few seconds, thinking. Then, he slowly peeled off the plastic and set it aside. His hands grabbed the cold cube. He dug his fingers into the clay, pressed into it. He let his hands press, pull, squeeze, and roll. He had no idea what he was going to make, but he didn't need to. The clay would take shape with guidance from his hands and then he would know.

Sasori watched him work. At the end of the hour, Deidara had made four baby birds, each more beautiful than the last. Sasori stood up and walked across the room.

"You work fast. I like that," the redhead said, taking a seat. He studied the birds without touching them, his eyes tracing every detail that had been made by Deidara's skilled hands.

"Well, is it the best or what?" Deidara said proudly, picking up a bird in his hand and admiring it.

"Not bad," Sasori said softly, eyes still on the birds.

"_'Not bad'_?" Deidara scoffed. "Admit it. They're extraordinary! Or...they could be."

"What do you mean?" Sasori asked, intrigued.

Deidara's eyes sparkled. "My art isn't complete....not unless I can make it explode! In that fleeting moment when you hear the explosion...when you see the bright flash of light...is where the _true_ beauty of my art lies! Art is a blast, Sasori-san!"

_Ah...another raving art lunatic to add to our staff..._Sasori thought, almost voicing his thoughts aloud.

"Art is meant to last, Deidara. As the years go by and yet it still continue to 'breathe' just like the moment the piece was completed and we are still fascinated by it...that is where true beauty lies." Sasori said, stroking the neck of one of the baby birds.

Deidara laughed. "You don't know what you're talking about. I'll show you, hm!" He flashed the redhead a big smile.

Sasori stood up and extended his hand to Deidara, who shook it. "Tell you what...you're hired. You start right now, when everyone comes back from lunch break. You've got attitude kid, I like that. You've got talent...and confidence. We could use someone like that around here."

Deidara smiled wider. "Thanks, Sasori-san. You won't regret giving me this job. I'll show all of you what true art is, hm!"

* * *

**Deidara got the job!! Woot! This story is a lot of fun to write :D Tell me what you think, R&R! There's a big cookie in it for ya! Thanks (:**


End file.
